By Mario Toneguzzi

New Look Eyewear is expanding into Western Canada as the brand becomes a national chain - recently announcing the opening of three stores, two in Saskatoon and one in Courtenay, B.C.

Parent company New Look Vision Group Inc. said the three new stores have been rebranded from the company’s Vogue Optical division.

“New Look Eyewear is thrilled to welcome three new locations to our network, helping us engage a broader customer base while becoming a true national brand,” said Claudia Rojas, Director of Operations at New Look Vision Group Inc. West.

“We believe that these store openings will make an important contribution to the communities where we do business. Our competitive strategy is based on innovation, not only by offering the latest products and trends, but also by taking the lead on important matters such as eco-responsibility. We look forward to building a new relationship with the people of Saskatoon and Courtenay as part of our progressive growth strategy in Western Canada.”

New Look Eyewear was founded in 1986.

“We want to provide the customers in the West the New Look experience per se - based on professionalism, experience and understanding of our trade or our industry,” said Rojas. “Our expansion in the West is really based on solid business models that have been established in communities such as Courtenay for example. We have had the chance to build those relationships with these communities and tailored our products and services to meet the needs of these communities.

“These relationships are very important to us and we’re very proud of them. It fuels our customer loyalty moving forward and we can say we know what our customers and patients want and need. So New Look has been established as a reputable brand, well-known in our industry, and we’re not a new kid on the block. This has allowed us to build trust among New Look customers in the East that we’re sure we’ll continue to foster in the West.”

Rojas said that at this point she could not say how many more New Look stores are geared for Western Canada.

“But I can tell you that we will be focusing in the Western market and we will be leveraging our resources such as our state-of-the-art lab that we have in Montreal bringing exclusive brands to the New Look Eyewear brand, bringing more innovation and technology as well and continuing to tailor and really customize the needs of our customers through innovative product,” she said.

The industry New Look is competing in has become highly competitive with retailers such as BonLook, Bailey Nelson and Warby Parker also establishing their presence in the Canadian marketplace.

“New Look Eyewear brings a wealth of industry knowledge and experience into the Western market. We’re not the new kid on the block. We’re able to offer customers and patients a wide variety of products and services. We’re not limited on exclusive brands only like some of our competitors on frames and lenses. We offer services such as contact lens fittings and full scope eye exams provided by professionals in eye care as well. Our spectrum of offerings when it comes to product and services is much wider and of course the experience and the reputation that we bring behind us, not to the mention the fact we have already a lot of resources in place, in order to facilitate the demands of an ever-growing population especially in the West,” said Rojas.

“We continually innovate by introducing new tools, products and services to improve those experiences, meet their ever-changing needs throughout their lifetime and just improve their vision by providing the best product. The Western market keeps growing and we feel that we’ll be able to meet their needs.”

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New Look Eyewear has more than 80 stores in Ontario and Quebec. The three new store locations are at the Grosvenor Park Centre and 109 2nd Avenue North in Saskatoon and 349 B 5th Street in Courtenay, B.C.

The company said the new stores will gain a new competitive advantage from the strength of New Look Eyewear’s network, including a wider selection of high-quality, on-trend products. All stores will retain many benefits currently offered to Vogue Optical customers, including the popular ‘second pair free’ policy. The New Look rebranding will also bring new services to customers, including soon-to-be-launched in-store eye exams. Current in-store managerial and staffing teams will remain in place, offering a refreshed customer experience based on New Look Eyewear’s mission to help people improve their quality of life on a daily basis.

“New Look Vision Group is the parent company, or the parent umbrella, and we’ve got two divisions under that parent umbrella - the optician division and the optometric division. Under the optometric division we have IRIS and under the optician division we run four major banners - Vogue Optical, New Look Eyewear, Greiche & Scaff, and our luxury division,” said Rojas.

“The idea is we’re trying to streamline our resources in making one of our optician division banners - in this case New Look Eyewear - strong in the West by having a consistent message for our customers and having a refresh and excitement that I think will invigorate our presence already in the East. We wanted to focus in just one banner throughout our Western expansion.”

The company has 373 stores and laboratory facilities in Canada. Its lens manufacturing laboratory is in Montreal.

Mario Toneguzzi, based in Calgary has 37 years of experience as a daily newspaper writer, columnist and editor. He worked for 35 years at the Calgary Herald covering sports, crime, politics, health, city and breaking news, and business. For 12 years as a business writer, his main beats were commercial and residential real estate, retail, small business and general economic news. He nows works on his own as a freelance writer and consultant in communications and media relations/training. Email: mdtoneguzzi@gmail.com.

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